Open Thread: Colorado Avalanche vs. Vancouver Canucks (8:30 p.m.)

It’s a Colorado Avalanche gameday!

The Colorado Avalanche are officially on the road again, starting with a late-night matchup with the Vancouver Canucks at Rodgers Arena in Vancouver, Brish Columbia. This contest marks Cale Makar’s 10th against Quinn Hughes’ Canucks, and in the nine games so far, both have shown out, but Cale has been dominant. He has three goals and eleven assists against the Canucks over his young career.

Why am I talking so much about just two players? Public opinion has stirred some outrage, similar to last year’s Kuch vs. MacK drama.

It’s about wins and losses tonight for both, even if most want to talk about the young defenders. The Avs are desperate for two more points to make headway inside the division. The same is true for Vancouver, who find themselves in a strikingly similar position standings-wise. Who will win the head-to-head, and which club can secure two more points?

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche are no longer carrying the weight of the goaltending room, and it’s an early-season issues. However, that also means they no longer have netminding to blame (or so it appears). That means the Avalanche should return to the “never lose two in a row” mindset and mantra that we’ve heard from Nathan MacKinnon in the past. The Avalanche could put the NHL on notice if they string some wins together and appear genuine contenders once again.

Speaking of Nathan MacKinnon, he was named the NHL’s second star of the month this morning. He currently leads the NHL in points, with his linemate Mikko Rantanen close behind with the third most in the league. Not too shabby!

Projected Lineup:

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen
Ross Colton — Casey Mittelstadt — Valeri Nichushkin
Joel Kiviranta — Parker Kelly — Logan O’Connor
Givani Smith — Ivan Ivan — Chris Wagner

Devon Toews — Cale Makar
Samuel Girard — Sam Malinski
Keaton Middleton — Calvin de Haan

Vancouver Canucks

I said in the lead-up that Vancouver and Colorado are in a similar situation standings-wise. To add further context, that’s especially true inside their respective divisions. Vancouver is eight points behind the Pacific-leading Vegas Golden Knights, albeit with two games in hand. That’s the sort of gap that requires one or two significant winning streaks to make up. That’s proven to be easier said than done for the Canucks, who haven’t won consecutive games since late November. They just lost to Boston by a score of 5-1 last Saturday, so a bounceback would fit the trend.

Projected Lineup:

Conor Garland — J.T. Miller — Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk — Elias Pettersson — Max Sasson
Danton Heinen — Pius Suter — Kiefer Sherwood
Dakota Joshua — Teddy Blueger — Nils Hoglander

Quinn Hughes — Noah Juulsen
Carson Soucy — Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort — Mark Friedman

Goaltenders

It’s likely Thatcher Demko vs. Mackenzie Blackwood tonight. Blackwood looked stellar in his Avalanche debut against the Nashville Predators. He didn’t allow a tally until the six-minute mark of the final frame and made 37 saves on 39 shots. That’s the kind of keeping that will make it tough to beat Colorado night in and night out, but consistency is the key.